Guy's Books and Thoughts

This manga series (which later became an anime series, a live action movie and even later a two part television drama) is an interesting look at human relationships and emotions. I guess many can identify with the main character Godai, who is a social klutz. He wishes to marry the apartment manager, but he is always getting the manager mad at him. In a way it is a retelling of the pauper who wins the hand of the princess in spite of the odds of having to compete against the rich tennis coach. The author of this series is a very clever writer, who introduces all sorts of conflicts, challenges and puns. One would think that the tennis coach would have an easy time winning the hand of the princess or apartment manager. But the problem is she still remembers her deceased husband and she has a pet dog named after her husband. And the tennis coach suffers from "dog phobia." To make this situation even more hilarious, the author, Rumiko Takahashi, has the tennis coach meet this beautiful lady for an omiai or arranged marriage meeting. This is sort of a formal date. Unfortunately for him, this beautiful rich lady is a dog lover. Being from a rich family she can keep a number of dogs, including a Saint Bernard. Her family name is Kujo. ( I don't think the author's choice of family name is an accident. My guess is that it's a tribute to Stephen King and his novel CUJO).

I guess I can give away the ending by saying the pauper does win the hand of the princess, but the adventure is in seeing how he overcomes the various obstacles, from people to circumstances.

P.S. The word "maison" is the French word for house. Certain foreign words have made their way into the Japanese language. The Japanese word for bread is "pan," which comes from the Portuguese. "Tempura" actually comes from the Latin via the Portuguese priests. Portuguese missionaries were active in Japan in the 16th century. The Japanese later banned Christianity in the 1600's. The Japanese Roman Catholics went underground and were called the "Kakure Kirishitan" or "Hidden Christians." They kept their faith alive for 250 years. Unfortunately isolation caused a deterioration in doctrine and these people became
syncretistic and I would say polytheistic. When Japan's closed country policy was weakened, some of these Kakure Kirishitan established contact with French Roman Catholic priests. They had to undergo correction in teaching before being received back into the Roman Catholic church. The majority accepted correction. However a small minority refused to accept correction and have continued to this day though their numbers are dwindling.

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